Every year National History Day® frames students’ research within a historical theme. This theme is broad enough in scope to encourage investigation of topics ranging from local to world history and across any geographic area or time period.. The intention is for NHD is to provide an opportunity for students to push past the antiquated view of history as mere facts and dates and drill down into historical content to develop perspective and understanding. The NHD theme provides a focused way to increase students’ historical understanding by developing a lens to read history, an organizational structure that helps students place information in the correct context and finally, the ability to see connections over time.